AAR31: Blood in the Sky

The battle of Objective B32 contrasted greatly with the other battles of the day in that it started with the fiercely contested air battle.  Uwanda was able to field two F5E Tiger IIs, and four F5A Freedom Fighters to clear the skies for close air support.  Mugabia defended with four Mig 21s, and a pair of Mig 15s.

B32 is located in the lower right on the map above.

The F5Es were equipped with a two AIM-9L all-aspect Sidewinders missiles, while the F5As carried a pair of AIM-9B rear aspect only Sidewinders.  The Mig 21s carried a pair of AA-2 Atoll missiles, a close copy of the AIM-9B.  All of the fighters were equipped with their respective guns.

The shooting started with the pair of F5Es leading the way, each launching a missile at Mig21s to the left of the formation rapidly approaching.  One of the missiles found its target, breaking up the Mig very quickly; a parachute was seen descending from the wreck.  The other missile was successfully evaded.

F5Es fire their Sidewinders.

Heart pounding, Jalil saw the missile coming in from ahead.  At the last second, he dove turning sharply first one way, and then the other.  He expected the explosion, but the missile passed behind him, turning sharply, but not sharp enough.  Turning his head, he saw the missile had crossed behind him, now rapidly travelling away from his jet.  "I can't believe it worked! That was not so hard as I thought."  Now to kill the man that tried to kill him.

Missile evaded!

As the aircraft closed, the F5Es fired another pair of missiles at the other two Mig21s at very close range.  Amazingly, both missiles missed their targets and the F5Es suddenly found themselves in gun range of the Migs,

Gunfight!

While the remaining Mig from the first pair turned north, the other pair of Migs closed with the F5s for head on shots.  Almost simultaneously, all four aircraft fired, one of the F5Es disintegrated, with the pilot somehow escaping from the airborne cloud of debris.

FrE being chased by an AA-2.

The surviving F5E turned and dove, while the Migs continued on their path, heading towards the two closest F5As.  The other two F5As turned to engage the single Mig21 to the north.  The single Mig in turn, headed for the surviving F5E.  All the while, the two Mig 15 pilots listened on the radio to the fight taking place, while their aircraft screamed at maximum speed, trying to get their in time to take part.

The pair of Migs exchanged shots with the pair of F5As, all of the aircraft finding themselves caught in a complex furball.  The single Mig suddenly found itself with a shot on one of the F5As, but missed, then received minor damage from another of the F5As.  The F5E, lost by the single Mig,  still trying to climb back into the fight took a hit from one of the pair of Migs, and trailing smoke, lost power.  The pilot would survive the fight, but his jet would not make it home.

The "furball".

The pair of F5As engaging the pair of Migs, momentarily got the advantage, both firing a missile at one of the Migs,  one of which killed the Mig.

Mig 21 in a bad way.

The second Mig21 of the second pair lined up shots twice on an F5A, but missed both shots.  The other F5A also missed a shot on him.  By this time, all of the aircraft found themselves in  a cluster, and both of the F5As that were chasing the Mig from the first pair, got missile shots on the Mig from the second pair.  The first missile turned the Mig into a fireball, the second missile then hit the fireball.

The single remaining Mig from the first pair, found itself in a swarm of F5s, and decided to try to fight his way out of it.  The Mig tried to lined up a shot one of the F5As, while being chased by two more. Unfortunately, before he could line up his next shot, an F5A behind him fired, wounding the Mig pilot, Jalil, and forcing him to try to disengage.

At about this time, the two Mig 15s arrived on the scene, the first pair of F5As spotted the newcomers, and announced their presence.  All four F5As  turned towards the Mig15s.  The two lead F5As closed trying to get the advantage, so that they could fire missiles.    The leading aircraft from each side, fired at the other, the Mig missed, but the F5 did not.  Several round went through the engine of the Mig15, which immediately went into a dive.

The Mig 15s arrive.

The remaining Mig 15 lined up on the other F5A at long range, fired a burst and took minor damage from the F5.  The F5 was riddled with damage losing engine power, flight control and weapons control, and a lot of fuel.   The pilot was later rescued.

An F5A going down.

The Mig 15 continued forward, closing with the next closest F5A, firing a long range burst, and watching the F5A turn away, trailing smoke.

The Mig then found itself in the sites of a third F5A, and got a shot off, just before a couple 20mm rounds came through his cockpit.  The Mig pilot died instantly, but would be remembered as a hero, as the fleeing Mig 21 pilot had seen how the Mig15 had saved him.  The F5A took very minor damage, but his guns were fowled, and out of missiles, he had no weapons.

The last Mig falls from the sky.

The disarmed F5A remained on station to assist his wingman in protecting the forces on the ground. After all, the enemy didn't know his guns were jammed.  During the fighting in the air, the ground battle at B32 had gotten underway.  Hopefully the close air support could now come in and help their cause.

Losses:

Uwanda:
2x F5E
2x F5A

Mugabia:
3x Mig21
2x Mig15

An expensive battle for both sides, resulting in likely delays for ground attack aircraft for both sides.  

I was surprised at how bad the AIM-9Ls did v. the Mig 21s, 1 fo 4 not being a great success rate.  Again, the superior guns of the Migs proved a great threat, allowing notable hits at much longer range, than what the F5's guns could do.  The success of the Mig15s was a bit of a surprise, as lining up the shots is still hard, and the frequency of "pilots hit" and "pilot killed" was disproportionate in this game.